Defender, Jess Carter has blasted fans who chose to incite racist abuse against her in the wake of England’s comeback Quarter-Final win over Sweden.
Carter’s defensive mistakes allowed Sweden to score twice in the opening 25 minutes before late second-half goals from Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang saw the Lionesses come back to force penalties, where they eventually prevailed 3-2 in a high-octane shootout.
Some fans however chose to racially abuse Carter for her role in England’s initial struggles in the Quarter-Final, which has now led the defender to take ‘a step back from social media’ as explained in an Instagram post, in which she acknowledged the need for everyone to express their views on performance and results.
“Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result, I don’t agree or think it’s ok to target someone’s appearance or race.”
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Carter expressed gratitude to “genuine fans” for their support but is “now looking forward and focusing on putting all of my energy into helping my team.”
FA Chief, Mark Bullingham added that the racist abuse has been reported to UK police who are in consultation with the relevant social media platform.
“Our priority is Jess and giving her all the support she needs,” commented Bullingham. “We strongly condemn those responsible for this disgusting racism.
“As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.
“Regrettably, this is not the first time this has happened to an England player, so we had measures in place to allow us to respond quickly and where possible provide information to support any potential police action.
“We will continue to discuss with the relevant authorities and social media companies about what more can and should be done to prevent this abhorrent abuse.”
Carter’s teammates also issued a joint statement standing by Carter and all other players past and present who had experienced racial abuse and urged the sport to “come together” to work on potential solutions to stamp out the issue.
England also confirmed that they will stand rather than take a knee prior to kick off at Tuesday’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy.
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